Big Name on Campus
by hurricanerosie91
Summary: Aria is getting settled at Hollis College with Ezra when she is suddenly catapulted to campus fame. The unwanted attention also manages to cause some problems with her and her parents. Ezria, ofc. No –A either!
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys, so I thought I'd have a go at a bit of a longer Pretty Little Liars fan fiction. I don't even know what gave me the idea for this story but I've been thinking about it for a while so hopefully it will be good! I'm planning about ten chapters at the moment!**

**Big Name on Campus**

**Aria is getting settled at Hollis College with Ezra when she is suddenly catapulted to campus fame. The unwanted attention also manages to cause some problems with her and her parents. Ezria, ofc. No –A either!**

**Chapter 1**

"Baby, you need to get up now! You're gonna make us late!" Aria hollered across her bedroom as she rushed out into the bathroom. She quickly shoved some toothpaste on her toothbrush and ran back into the bedroom as she brushed.

"Ezwa!" She scalded at the sight of her boyfriend still lying under the duvet. They had a lecture to attend in 30 minutes and he was still nice and tucked up in bed, watching her get ready as he had been for the past 40 minutes. Granted he could be showered and good to go in around 15 minutes but she really didn't want to be late. Showing up with the TA drew enough looks as it was without the two of them interrupting the lecturer by turning up halfway through.

She began collecting her belongings from around the room and throwing them in her bag whilst brushing her teeth, she had learned early in life to multi-task as her morning routine was so lengthy. But let's face it, she didn't wake up with perfect hair and make-up and some things are worth the effort!

"Ezwa!" She attempted again. When he still refused to move she ran over and grabbed the duvet in hand. One swift tug left Ezra lying exposed on the mattress in just his black Calvin Klein's. He instinctively curled up into a ball, shielding his torso from the cold air he was now exposed to.

"Ariaaa," He whined. "It's so cold." She threw him an unsympathetic look and headed back into the bathroom. You'd never believe he was twenty-five years old sometimes. She finished brushing her teeth and rinsed with mouthwash, grabbing a towel for Ezra as she headed back to the bedroom to put the finishing touches to her hair and make-up.

"The shower will warm you up." She informed him as she hurled the towel across to him. He reluctantly got up from the bed and replaced the duvet neatly. Aria soon felt his arms wrap around her waist from behind as she stood at the dresser lining her eyes. He slowly brushed the hair from the right side of her neck and planted a soft kiss on her exposed skin.

"Can't we stay here just a little bit longer?" Ezra asked in a low, seductive voice. Ever since they'd moved in together he had become insatiable; not that she was much better. It was just so hard to resist when the love of her life was planting butterfly kisses on the one spot that got her going the most. It was both a blessing and a curse that he knew her body so well.

"I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to encourage students to skip classes. Least of all those which you yourself teach on." She reasoned with him. It wasn't enough for him to let up however, he kissed his way up to her earlobe and began to nibble on it. She had to extract him from her body soon or she would wind up powerless to resist. "Baby, please?" She whipped around in his arms so they were face to face. "Can you please just get in the shower so we can get going? We wont have time to stop for coffee otherwise." She mustered her sweetest voice; rejecting his advances wasn't easy and she didn't want him to feel bad about it.

"Ok, I'm sorry." He leant down to kiss her lips. For Aria, there was no better feeling than her lips on Ezra's. Each and every one of their kisses embodied their whole relationship entirely. No matter how fierce and passionate the kiss was, there was always an under lying loving tenderness, and no matter how sweet and gentle the kiss was, there was always a spark there. She was yet to experience a less than perfect kiss with Ezra.

"Any other time sweetie..." She called as he made his way to the shower. She knew Ezra knew she would rather stay in bed with him all day but it was only her first semester at Hollis and she was trying to make a good impression. Yes, her dad was one of the most senior professors at the college but she didn't want to trade on her surname, she had to be able to stand on her own two feet.

Twenty minutes later and the couple where stood in line at the on campus Starbucks. They were self-confessed caffeine addicts and one cup in the morning simply wasn't enough, and especially not after they had been up half the night spending some, well, quality time together. Much to Ezra's annoyance, Aria kept checking her watch and exhale, clearly frustrated with the queue they were in.

"Aria, chill. It's only ten to, the line is moving quickly and the lecture hall is literally around the corner." He tried to placate her, taking her tiny hands in his so she couldn't check the time again.

"I know, I know. I just, I don't think it looks the best if I stroll in late hand-in-hand with the TA, you know?"

"I'm sorry, when did we start caring about what everyone else thinks?" Ezra retorted. He dropped her hands and she could see she had misspoke.

"Ezra, that's not what I'm-"

"Aria, we've spent the past year since we told your parents about us walking around purposely _not _caring what everyone else thinks. Why does it suddenly matter once you get to Hollis? Now suddenly I'm an embarrassment to you?" His brows wrinkled and he looked away from her. Why was he making such an issue out of this here and now?

"Oh please, now you're just putting words in my mouth." She couldn't disguise the annoyance in her voice. "Don't even try and pretend you think I'm embarrassed by you, nobody thinks that's true for even a second."

"Well you sure make it sound like that!" Ezra raised his voice slightly.

"_Don't_ shout at me in public." Aria reminded him. "I am proud to be with you and know you that, what I'm tryi-"

"Hi, can I take your order?" The female barista behind the counter chirped up. _Perfect timing,_ thought Aria sarcastically.

"Yeah, can we get a double tall non-fat latte and a grande drip please?" Ezra ordered for the two of them, he always did and Aria loved it. She was all for female empowerment and everything, but knowing that he knew her so well he could order for her off-hand made her smile. The barista scribbled down their order and the couple moved across along the line to pay.

"$5.60 please." Ezria handed a ten-dollar bill to the cashier as Aria turned back to him.

"I am just saying that I don't want people getting the wrong impression." She said to him in a hushed tone. "Look, I'm working really hard and I don't want everyone to think I'm getting good grades because I'm in a relationship with one of the TAs on the course."

"Aria, you're not even in my class. I have nothing to do with your grades!" Ezra argued as he took his change from the cashier and ushered her to the side to wait for their drinks.

"Yes, I know, but people love to assume and people love to gossip and I don't want to give them any ammunition."

"Aria, no offense, but I don't even think anyone on the course has even noticed we're together." Their drinks were placed on the counter as he took her hands back in his.

"Agh, I know, I'm sorry honey." She lowered her head; a little embarrassed at what she was fast realising was an overreaction on her part. "I'm just working so hard and I want people to know that it's all me."

"Hey." Ezra raised her chin so he was looking into her eyes. "I know you are, and I think if the people on this course know the first thing about you they will know that it's all pure talent with you."

Aria smiled sheepishly. He always knew just the right thing to say. It was irritatingly sweet. Sometimes she just wanted to be mad with him, but those eyes and that smile coupled with his insanely good way with words meant she just couldn't.

"Now come on, grab your latte and let's get to this lecture before anyone realises there's something going on between us." Ezra joked as he took her hand and dragged her towards the lecture hall.

**Ah thanks for reading! Please leave me a review and let me know what you think and if you want me to continue etc! Updates will be as regular as I can manage them!**

**Lots of love 3**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys, thanks for your reviews! They mean so much!**

**You're gonna have to bear with me with this story because I have so much college work atm but I'll update as soon as I can!**

**Hope you like the next chapter!**

"Do you have to get to the library or can you come hang out in my office for a while?" Ezra asked as he and Aria left the lecture hall. Usually on a weekday, she would study in the library whilst he graded papers and planned classes in his office, or they would head to a coffee shop or chill out in his office and both work on their writing. Then it was back to their off-campus apartment, or out to dinner or a movie, maybe occasionally the Rangeley Playhouse if something good was showing.

Of course, Aria did indulge in the normal college activities; she went out with her friends regularly and she had been to her share of frat parties. Ezra was perfectly happy for her to go out and do her own thing. He wanted her to experience college to the fullest extent and didn't want to hold her back. He knew that would only lead to problems later down the line, she would feel like he had prevented her from living her life and he didn't want that kind of resentment lingering over their relationship.

When it came down to it, Ezra trusted Aria implicitly. Yes, there had been a minor incident with Jason DiLaurentis in the early days of their courtship but she has come clean about it almost immediately and he believed her when she said it was Jason who kissed her. At the end of a night, Aria was coming home to him and that was as much as he needed.

"Actually, I'm meeting the girls for coffee." Aria explained. "It's been a few days and we're not going out this weekend so we thought we'd get together."

"Oh ok, no worries. In that case I believe I will see you at home later." The couple had made their way across to the Starbucks they had visited earlier by now and they paused outside to say their goodbyes before going their separate ways.

"Yes, you will. It's your turn to cook tonight!" She reminded him.

"In that case, shall we order in?" They both laughed and Ezra planted a kiss on Aria's lips. "Ok, I'll leave you to it. Say hi to everyone for me."

"Will do." The couple parted ways and Aria headed to the counter to pick up another coffee, to stay this time. She picked up a skinny raspberry and peach muffin also, reminding herself to stick to salad for lunch.

As she collected her drink, a small group of what she suspected were sorority girls vacated a table and she quickly took a seat. She was a little early but Spencer was always punctual so she wouldn't be alone for long.

She began picking at her muffin and glancing around the cafe. Suddenly she felt strangely insecure, were people looking at her? No, she was just being paranoid again. She pulled out her phone, quickly checking Facebook and Twitter. No love on Facebook but Twitter told her that Ezra had made it to his office, stopping for more caffeine himself on the way. As she looked up again she swore she saw a few people quickly avert their eyes again. Surely she had to be imagining things? Thankfully at that moment she noticed Spencer heading her way.

"Hey sweetie."She sat down next to Aria with her strong black coffee. Spencer had always planned on going Ivy League but after the chaotic events that occurred in their last couple of years at Rosewood High, the girls decided they wanted to stick together. Hollis was the logical option and it was a good enough institution that Spencer's parents didn't insist she apply to Harvard or Princeton also.

"Hey, how are you?" Aria asked. Spencer, Emily and Hanna had all moved into the dorms upon starting at Hollis so they could have an authentic college experience, so the group tried to get together once a week at the least to catch up and just spend some quality time together.

"I'm good. I am seriously stressing out about my Poly Sci term paper that's due soon though. So much to do!" Classic Spencer. She had probably already drafted the paper but was still worrying.

"You know you'll be fine." Aria laughed. "Have you ever failed a class in your life?"

"Well no." Spencer admitted. "But I don't intend on starting now! How're you? How's Ezra?"

"I'm good, he's good, we're good." Aria smiled. "Well, we had a minor disagreement this morning but we straightened it out soon enough!"

"Good to hear."

"Hey guys." Emily arrived at that moment and took a seat. "How's it going?"

"Well, thank you. Although Spencer's worried she's going to fail Poly Sci." Replied Aria.

"I didn't realise fail was in your vocabulary." Emily laughed.

"It's not!" chirped Spencer. "Ok, I admit I may be overreacting but you know what I get like." The girls laughed. Aria loved how everything was still the same with her friends. After everything they had been through after Alison's death it would have been so easy for them to slowly fall apart as a group but the fact that those events had only made their friendship stronger made her so happy.

"Ohhh my god Aria. Are you ok?" Hanna had arrived, totally by-passing the counter and heading straight to their table.

"Erm, yeh?" Aria said, utterly confused. _What was Hanna on about?_ "Should I not be?"

"You haven't seen?" She asked as she hastily took the last remaining seat at the table.

"Seen what?" Aria was now a little worried.

"This." Hanna threw the new edition of the Hollis Herald down on the table. It was folded over to the Life&Style section and the headline was exposed to the girls:

**BNOC of the Week: Aria Montgomery**

"BNOC?" asked Emily.

"Big name on campus." Revealed Hanna.

"Oh my god." Aria was in shock. So people had been looking at her. She wasn't being paranoid. Big name on campus? Her? This could only be bad. She began to read.

_The hottest thing to step onto campus in as long as we can remember, Aria Montgomery is a Rosewood native who had ties to Hollis long before she enrolled on her first course. _

_Aria Montgomery had tongues wagging the second she arrived at Hollis.-_

"Who's tongues were wagging?" Aria asked in disbelief. She was shushed by the Spencer and Emily as they carried on reading

_- Despite being blessed with an obvious beauty, Aria's years at nearby Rosewood High were less than perfect. Controversy surrounded her and her friends after the death of Alison DiLaurentis; Aria, along with three other girls (pictured above) were arrested on suspicion of being somehow involved but were later released and cleared of all charges. - _

"Oh my god why would they bring this up?"

_- And it is not just Aria's somewhat shady past which has people talking. It's easy to see where Aria got her good looks from when you discover her father is the rather dishy Professor of Architecture, Byron Montgomery. – _

"Dishy? Eww."

_- However perhaps the juiciest piece of gossip on Aria is her beau, none other than the English TA who has female students the college over fighting for a spot in his class; yes, Ezra Fitz. Scandal surrounds the couple however, as just over a year ago Ezra was teaching Aria's English class at Rosewood High. Considering the two are now shacked up in an little just-off-campus apartment, its hard to imagine that nothing was going on between the pair whilst he was still Mr Fitz, though of course there's no way to be sure. – _

"Oh my god. No wonder people have been looking at me. This is such a nightmare!"

_- No doubt the sororities will be fighting over this girl, or would be, if she intended to rush. Sources tell us Aria couldn't think of anything worst, - _

"If I find out any of you were a 'source'."

_- preferring to spend her reading and writing – Aria has a true passion for her English major._

_Watch out for this one ladies and gents, something tells us she's going to be cause quite a storm here at Hollis over the next four years._

"A storm? I will not be causing a storm. Oh my god I cannot believe this is happening to me."

"Oh my god. Aria I am so sorry." Spencer sympathised with her. "Who wrote this?"

"It's not credited to anyone." Added Hanna.

"This is such an invasion of privacy!" Aria was outraged. "And look! These pictures are from my Facebook page! And these are me on campus, has they been following me around?"

Aria felt physically sick. BNOC? She was definitely not a BNOC. This was exact the sort of thing she had hoped to avoid at Hollis. After Ali's death she could hardly be surprised that her and the girls were thrust into the spotlight but she had been quite content to lie low at Hollis, were no-one knew anything about her past.

Now her whole life had been laid out in the college newspaper for everyone to read. Out and about in Rosewood, her and Ezra had always gained stares, they expected it; they were hardly the most conventional couple. But now at Hollis most of the time they were just like any other couple and Aria loved that. This article effectively ruined that and put them back to square one.

"I'm so sorry Aria." Emily offered. "They shouldn't have done this."

"Look guys, I need to go and see Ezra." Aria explained. She quickly gathered up the newspaper Hanna had brought. "I'm sorry, we'll get together again soon."

She left Starbucks quickly, and now she was even more aware of the stares that were directed at her. She dipped her head and made her way quickly across campus to Ezra's office, she assumed he was yet to see the article and he needed to see it as soon as possible.

**Please review, it would be very lovely **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi Guys! Thank you so much for sticking with me on this one. I know it's been forever, I'm so so so busy with uni work at the moment but I took some time off this afternoon to pen this chapter and a one-shot called Save the Last Dance For Me which I'm about to upload!**

**Thank you all my reviewers you have no idea how much they mean to me! Shout out to laugh4life who left me the most amazing review that had me smiling all day!**

**I hope you like this chapter!**

Aria kept her head down as she rushed across campus to Ezra's office. If she had known what today would bring she definitely wouldn't have chosen her hot pink jacket this morning. All the black and grey everyone else wore made her stick out like a sore thumb and she had a feeling she was going to have enough trouble fitting in as it was from now on.

She was so angry. The BNOC article was so malicious. It was all nicely packaged up as a compliment but she saw right through it to the dig at her it really was. Clearly there were a few very jealous girls in the Life and Style department of the newspaper. Aria wasn't stupid, she knew her and Ezra would attract some attention once people realised she was a student and he was a TA but she hadn't ever intend on this many people finding out. And her entire past in Rosewood had just been exposed as well. How did anyone find out about Ali?

She got caught in a small queue entering the English building and she couldn't help but notice the looks she was gaining from those around her._ And this is only the beginning_, she thought. She noticed one girl nudge her friend and they both quite blatantly turned their attention to her, then whispering to one another as they walked away. So much for subtlety.

Aria quickly made her way up the stairs to Ezra's office and entered without knocking. Thankfully he was alone, sat behind his desk with a stack of papers which he was grading.

"Aria, hi." He said as he looked up, clearly shocked by her sudden arrival. "What are you doing here? I thought you were meeting the girls." She made her way across his small office and stood on the opposite side of the desk to him. Without a word she pulled the Hollis Herald from her bag and presented Ezra with the article about her.

His eyes widened as he took in the page. There were lots of pictures of Aria, pictures of her and the girls, her and her family clearly taken from her Facebook page. Then there were pictures of Aria on campus, clearly taken without her knowledge. At the bottom of the page Ezra was shocked to see a couple of pictures of himself and Aria together.

"This is about you." He said, the disbelief evident in his voice.

"No shit Sherlock." She quipped. "Not just me, me and you." She made her way around Ezra and took a seat on the desk in front of him as he read the content of the article.

"Aria, this is –"

"Bad." She interrupted. "This is bad. And here was us thinking we were past all this."

"They can't print this!" Ezra was clearly angry, which didn't happen a lot.

"Well they have. And look they've been following me around. Wasn't that last Thursday?" She asked, pointing to a picture of the two of them hand in hand on campus.

"I don't remember, maybe. They can't say all these things about you, about us! I'm going to say something, threaten to sue if they don't print a retraction!" By now Ezra was on his feet, he was practically fuming.

"Sue for what Ezra?" Aria asked calmly. "Let's face it; nothing they've printed is false. All the stuff about me and girls is true and they're not exactly wrong about us being together whilst you were still at Rosewood. It's just not something we really want to be publicising in the college newspaper."

Ezra slumped back into his chair and pulled her legs around so she was better facing him. He suddenly realised he was being insensitive. Granted he was mentioned, but she had just been catapulted into the campus spotlight. She had gotten enough attention at high school, first with the mystery surrounding Alison Di Laurentis' death and then after the two of them went public. He knew she had been really looking forward to Hollis, and the relative anonymity that campus would bring her, now all that was ruined.

"Are you ok?" He asked softly, brushing the lock of hair that had fallen into her face back behind her ear.

"Not really." Aria admitted. "Why can't I just be left alone? I don't understand why the universe is so hell bent on making life as difficult as possible for me"

"I'm so sorry." Ezra offered. "This is my fault. If we weren't-"

"Don't even bother." Aria interjected. She saw where he was going, blaming himself and their relationship for the problem. "This is not even anything like your fault. _We_ are not the problem. The jealous bitches who wrote this thing are."

"Yeah, I supposed you're right." He stood and took her face in his hands. "I'm here for you, we'll get through this."He kissed her softly, and for that moment the article and all the problems that came with it just melted away.

"There is one other problem." Aria added as the couple broke apart. Ezra looked confused, so she picked up the article and began to read. "_Considering the two are now shacked up in an little just-off-campus apartment..." _She trailed off as a look of realisation appeared on his face.

"Oh my god."

"Yup. My parents are going to flip." Aria and Ezra hadn't exactly been truthful with her parents about the fact that they were living together. As far as Ella and Byron were concerned Aria was living off-campus with Spencer, Hanna and Emily, not her boyfriend.

"Ok well we have to get to them before your dad sees this. It will be better if they hear it from us." Ezra said. Ella and Byron had taken a long time to come round to the idea of Aria and himself as a couple and he was worried how they would react when they learnt the two of them were sharing a bed every night. It wasn't exactly what every parent wanted to hear about their 19-year-old daughter.

At that very second, Aria's phone buzzed. She fished it out of her bag and saw it was from her mom. _This can't be good,_ she thought as she read the text aloud to Ezra.

"_I've just spoken to your father. It seems you have some explaining to do. Come over for dinner tonight. And bring Ezra with you."_

**Dun dun dun!**

**What do you guys think?**

**I'm gonna try and get the next chapter up as soon as possible, my dissertation is due in on Monday so I should get more free time then!**

**Reviews are much appreciate, love you beautiful people! 3**


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